Gold Flats is about fifty miles northwest of Tonopah, the county seat of Nye County, Nevada. Access is via the Poleline Road (Old State Road 89). From its intersection with Highways 6 and 95, about 5 miles (9km) west of Tonopah, proceed northwest on Poline Road for about 14 miles (22km). At Peavine Creek, a dry wash, a well maintained dirt road, Peavine Creek Road, intersects the Poleline Road. Turn north-northeast (right) and proceed on Peavine Creek Road about 12 miles (19km) to its terminus with a well maintained dirt road. Turn west (left), toward cloverdale Canyon Road, which is 12 miles, 91(km) distant. The last 5 miles (9km) of this road crosses the Gold Flats alluvial fan. Several jeep trails trend northward, toward the southern edge of the Toiyabe Range.

The geology and mineral resources of northern Nye County are well described by Kleinhampl and Ziony in their Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletins 99A and 99B "Geology of Northern Nye County, Nevada" and "Mineral Resources of Norther Nye County, Nevada" (1985 and 1984) Highlights. The Gold flats area seems all but surrounded by epithermal volcanic gold mineralization. Caldera systems have been mapped immediately to the east and west of Gold Flats and unmapped large circular features, almost certainly related to igneous activity, are obvious in some satellite images. Gold Flats may have received gold from many or all of these local hydrothermal gold systems, not just the most obvious source - the East Golden mining camp.

The discovery of the Tonopah lodes, about 50 miles southeast of Cloverdale, triggered a regional gold rush. By 1903, several lode deposits were active in the Cloverdale Mining District, including the Workman claims and, a mile away, the King-Bladwin claims, (Mining and Science Press, July 11, 1903 and Spet. 5, 1903).

Placer gold was discovered at Gold Flats in 1906, according to a Tonopah press report from that time (no citation) but the deposit was not developed. During the Depression small-scale dry washing operations supported a number of families (Tanner, pers. comm., 2007). Hand stack piles of oyersize cobbles in arroyos near the souther edge of the Toiyabe Range indicate this work was very limited in scope.